Sears Holdings Corp. named Lou D’Ambrosio president and CEO, effective February 24. He replaced Bruce Johnson, who served as the retail company’s interim president and CEO since 2008.
D’Ambrosio served as CEO of Avaya, a business communications technology company, from 2006 to 2008, when he resigned for medical reasons, Sears said in a statement. He also worked at IBM for 16 years prior to Avaya.
The company also named Johnson EVP for off-mall business and supply chain. He will also continue to serve as a member of its board of directors until May.
Sears also said February 24 that its revenues declined 0.8% to $13.1 billion for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2010, which ended January 29. Operating income declined 11.5% to $663 million in the quarter, while net income dropped 17.1% year-over-year for the three-month period to $382 million.
Revenues in the full fiscal year declined 1.6% compared with the prior year to $43.3 billion. Full fiscal year operating income declined 33.5% compared with the prior year to $474 million, while net income dropped 49.5% to $150 million.
“Our financial results remain at unacceptable levels, and we are working to drive better performance in both the short and long term…We will continue to make long-term investments in key areas that may adversely impact short-term results when we believe they will generate attractive long-term returns,” said Edward Lampert, chairman of Sears Holdings, in a letter to investors. “In particular, we have significantly grown our Shop Your Way Rewards program, improved our online and mobile platforms and re-examined our overall technology infrastructure.”
A Sears Holdings representative could not be immediately reached for comment.
